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Here we are with another look at the currency markets and how they fared during the first two days of a fresh week. Last time we saw a poor showing from the pound as it managed just one good result in the last three days of the previous week. Will it be able to do better this time?

Last time we saw the pound drop 0.0013 cents against the US dollar, leaving it to close the week on 1.5616. The Euro saw a much better result to finish the week though, with an increase of one and a half cents over the same three days, to finish on 1.1506.

It was 0.008 down against the Hong Kong dollar though so we didn’t get a good finish this time against that currency. And if you were watching the figures on your currency converter closely you would see that the pound didn’t do well against either the New Zealand dollar or the Australian dollar either.

We had a half cent loss against the Kiwi dollar which saw us fall to 2.2506, and we lost nearly two cents against the Aussie dollar. This put us down to 1.7680 for the last exchange rate of the week.

So where will the new week take us? Let’s see how things fared on the first two days of the week.

An overview of the currency markets for February 15th – February 16th 2010

So we are starting with an exchange rate of 1.5616 against the US dollar. But by the end of Monday night things were starting to look up a bit, as we had increased that to 1.5683.

There was a slight drop the following day to 1.5679, but we had still managed to add on a moderate 0.0063 over those first two days of the week. More than half a cent up on these two days was a good start.

But how good would our performance be against the Euro? We were starting from a position of 1.1506, and once again Monday started off well as we ended the day on 1.1526. But that initial rise was soon forgotten because by Tuesday evening the exchange rate had gone down to 1.1487. So that meant we had lost out on 0.0019 so far – not very much but enough to make us wonder how the rest of the week would turn out.

Onto Hong Kong now where we were left with an exchange rate of 12.134 last time. We managed to do well here to start the week by ending Monday on 12.187, and while we lost some ground and finished up on 12.184 on Tuesday, we had still managed to add on an impressive 0.05 over these first two days. Would we be able to build on this for the remaining three days of the week? We’ll have to wait to find out.

It’s time to visit New Zealand now, which is where we found ourselves on 2.2506 last week after losing half a cent during the final three days of that week. Could we do better this time?

Monday did not bode well because we slipped down to 2.2487 by the end of that first day. Unfortunately for us there was worse news in store by the time Tuesday was over, because the closing rate for that day turned out to be 2.2307. So the loss on that day alone amounted to nearly two cents; and for the first two days it added up to just short of two cents on 0.0199.

Finally let’s look at the performance of the pound against the Aussie dollar. Last time we left it on 1.7680, and once again by the time Monday night rolled around we were in a lower position on 1.7639. Could we manage to do better for the second day of the week or was this the start of another bad week for the pound?

Given the result we had on Tuesday night it seemed as if the latter would turn out to be true. The closing rate on that day was a depressing 1.7494, meaning we had lost a total of nearly two cents in just two days.

So could we turn this poor performance around during the remainder of the week, or was there worse to come? We’ll have to wait to find out in the time that is remaining to us.

Notable events in the world of currency

US dollar struggles against the Aussie dollar

The US dollar claimed a total of 1.1321 Aussie dollars at the close of the previous week. But that didn’t last long once the new week got underway. Monday saw the figure drop to 1.1247 and then Tuesday went lower to 1.1157.

New Zealand dollar surges up against the Canadian dollar

There was better news for the New Zealand dollar as it went from 0.7294 as the markets opened on Monday morning to 0.7345 as they closed on Tuesday night.

The Euro climbs against the Hong Kong dollar

There was good news for the Euro as well as it went from 10.546 from the previous week to 10.606 on the Tuesday evening.

As you can see this was not the best week for the pound, although some other currencies didn’t put in their best performances either. This news story from Tuesday on the Reuters website, shows how the pound struggled against the Euro last week.

But perhaps we should sit tight and wait to see how the rest of this week plays out before getting into too much doom and gloom regarding the pound. We have seen it struggle before only to come back and do better over time. So perhaps the best of this week is yet to come?

In any event we can hope to progress through the week and gain back some of the losses we have experienced so far. So check back for our next report to see how the remaining three days of this week panned out.

Comment

I like this new style report much more than the old one. While it was good to read about the currencies each week, having the report out more frequently makes sense since the currency markets are changing all the time anyway.

It’s good to read about the first half of the week to see what events are happening that could shape the remaining few days of trading for that week. You never know what will happen next but I like being able to stay in touch more often with what is going on. I’m starting to understand it better too!

The person who commented above is definitely right in my opinion. I think it is better to know more about how the currency markets are progressing and the only way to do it is to have a couple of reports a week instead of just the one. It keeps me in touch with the site and other features as well, so that’s good.

I must admit I have missed a few of the Wednesday reports though because I am still getting used to visiting twice a week instead of just the once. I still prefer it though since I can always just read up on the two reports in one hit if I forget to look earlier. Keep up the good work – it’s very enjoyable!